Unicum
evergene
recent trip to Budapest. After making the obvious and very poor jokes
about the name, we sampled it, and it's pretty damned good. I can't
find it on the K&L, Jug Shop, or BevMo sites. Anyone know where to
find it in or near San Francisco? Out in the Avenues, perhaps? Thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicum
spamtrap1888
It is the signature product of the Hungarian offshoot of the Zwack
company -- get Zwacked as it were. I thought I'd seen it here; I'll go
check.
evergene
BevMo has "Zwack," but isn't that a different product from the same
company?
spamtrap1888
Nope. Although Zwack does make another herb liqueur, St. Herbertus
(the patron of hunting, so go figure what it's supposed to compete
with) and a tummy liqueur, St. George. The description of Unicum from
a German online booze emporium matches our Zwack.
Der Unicum ist ein bitterer Kräuterlikör, der aus mehr als 40
verschiedenen Heilpflanzen gewonnen wird. Die Rezeptur existiert seit
1790 und wird sorgfältig gehütet. Der Unicum ist harmonisch im
Geschmack und hat ein unnachahmliches bitter-süsses Aroma. Die
unverwechselbare Kugelflasche unterstreicht optisch den durch und
durch "runden" Geschmack von UNICUM.
UNICUM kann man gekühlt trinken, aber das richtige Aroma entfaltet
sich bei Zimmertemperatur.
Herb liqueur, check, 40 health plants, check, recipe dates back to
1790 check. Blah blah blah. Although it can be drunk cold, drink at
room temperature to bring out the characteristic aroma.
Zwack used to market a delicious line of fruit liqueurs in the US, in
distinct, Z-shaped bottles. Unfortunately they contained too much
urethane.
spamtrap1888
>
> Zwack used to market a delicious line of fruit liqueurs in the US, in
> distinct, Z-shaped bottles. Unfortunately they contained too much
> urethane.
Yay, I just found other Zwackian products on the Stawski Distributing
website out of Chicago:
St. Hubertus liqueur, two kinds of pear brandy, and three kinds of the
famous Barack Palinka -- not Obama's cousin, but the Hungarian for
peach brandy.
Jeff Lanam
By the way, Michael Palin of Monty Python, who is doing travel
documentaries these days, did one for the BBC called "New Europe" about
Eastern Europe. In the Hungary segment, he visited the maker of Unicum.
Julian Macassey
BevMo carry it. It is on their website as "Zwack herbal
liquer.
http://www.bevmo.com/Shop/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=30181
I have seen it there.
--
"People have a certain pride in pigging out, it's a measure of
their worth." Graef Crystal talks about executive pay
evergene
>On Jul 26, 5:57 pm, evergene <everg...@newsguy.com> wrote:
>> BevMo has "Zwack," but isn't that a different product from the same
>> company?
>
>Nope. Although Zwack does make another herb liqueur, St. Herbertus
>(the patron of hunting, so go figure what it's supposed to compete
>with) and a tummy liqueur, St. George. The description of Unicum from
>a German online booze emporium matches our Zwack.
[remainder trimmed]
I found this note on eGullet. Todd Price wrote to Zwack asking about
the difference between the product sold as "Zwack" and Unicum.
According to the reply from Zwack, below, Zwack the product, also
called Unicum Next, is sweeter than Unicum. And it appears that
original Unicum, which I think is what my friends brought back from
Budapest, is not sold in the U.S.
All below is from eGullet,
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/131973-unicum-vs-zwack/
Posted 23 February 2010 - 08:02 AM
Got a reply from a Mr. Zsinkó Bálint at Zwack (how great a name is
that), which answers a few questions:
Quote
Dear Todd,
Yes, Zwack Liqueur is ditributed in the US market by Diageo, it is
available in Louisiana.
Unicum is a bitter, made of herbs, but it is not the same like Zwack
Liqueur.
Zwack Ligueur is a semi -bitter which also made of herbs but the ratio
of components is different therefor it is much sweeter and has lower
alcohol content.
"Unicum Next" is the same like "Zwack Ligueur". We use Unicum Next as
a brand name for internal business but call the product Zwack Liqueur
all around the world (except Hungary).
It is because of marketing issues, Zwack is a wellknown name in
Hungary so we do not have to promote it in our new line extension
(Unicum Next). It is more important to make it clear that it belongs
to the main brand (Unicum).
But in abroad we would like to make a company image. For that reason
we use Zwack Liqueur. The other point is that we have no considerable
Unicum sales in the US so Unicum Next would not carry any meaning to
the constumers.
"Zwack" is the name of our company which comes from the family name of
our major owner Mr. Peter Zwack. His grand-grand father was the
inventor of this liquid.
Best regards,
Balint
spamtrap1888
> spamtrap1888 wrote:
> >On Jul 26, 5:57 pm, evergene <everg...@newsguy.com> wrote:
> >> BevMo has "Zwack," but isn't that a different product from the same
> >> company?
>
> >Nope. Although Zwack does make another herb liqueur, St. Herbertus
> >(the patron of hunting, so go figure what it's supposed to compete
> >with) and a tummy liqueur, St. George. The description of Unicum from
> >a German online booze emporium matches our Zwack.
>
> [remainder trimmed]
>
> I found this note on eGullet. Todd Price wrote to Zwack asking about
> the difference between the product sold as "Zwack" and Unicum.
> According to the reply from Zwack, below, Zwack the product, also
> called Unicum Next, is sweeter than Unicum. And it appears that
> original Unicum, which I think is what my friends brought back from
> Budapest, is not sold in the U.S.
>
From what I've been able to gather from Hungarian media sites, Unicum
Next is citrus flavored and lower in alcohol than Unicum (35% vs 40%),
as well as being sweeter. Bevmo does not state Zwack's alcohol
content, but according to Binny's Beverage Depot in Chicago, Zwack is
84 proof -- therefore 42%. So I'm hoping someone can check the bottle
out in person.
Binny's also carries Kosher Slivovitz from Zwack's kosher (OU
supervision) eaux de vie line, as well as non-kosher Barack Palinka.
www.binnys.com http://www.oukosher.org/pdf/Daf_17-8supplementb.pdf